


Everyone needs a wall

by sarcasmismyweapon



Series: Learning Curve [17]
Category: Naruto
Genre: ANBU - Freeform, Chunin, Cute, F/M, Family, Fluff, Guard Duty, Life lessons fic, idiot shinobi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-09 02:33:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16441361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarcasmismyweapon/pseuds/sarcasmismyweapon
Summary: While manning the wall on guard duty the boys have to take action to prevent a dangerous shinobi from escaping into the village. Bringing the would be criminal back to where he belongs proves to be a bit more difficult given the fact that their captive isn't cooperating. Luckily for the boys, they know a few Anbu who can help.





	1. How to make friends at work

**Author's Note:**

> Here is another fic for your Halloween treat and even better, I'm not going to make you wait to see the other half. You get the ENTIRE fic today. Happy Halloween.

CHAPTER ONE

  


“So I heard that you had a great time in Lightning.” Shikaku smirked at Kakashi.

The other Anbu glared in response. “It was great.” Came the dower response. “Would totally go again.”

Shikaku snorted. “Uh huh, I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“It’s not like I had a choice in the matter.”

Shikaku gave a nod, that at least was true. The hokage chose who went where and when. “True, but you also didn’t have to cause such a ruckus while there.”

“Ruckus?” Kakashi gave a shocked reply. “I don’t recall any such ruckus.”

Shikaku leveled an unimpressed look at the man. “You destroyed an entire room at a very lavish inn all because you couldn’t find what you were looking for stealthily and were getting frustrated. That is a ruckus.”

“I prefer to call it reallocating the rooms decorations.”

Shikaku snorted. “Is that what we’re calling it now?”

Kakashi nodded his head. “Yep.”

“You’re hilarious.” Shikaku muttered. “Do you know how much paperwork you made Ibiki have to fill out?”

Kakashi didn’t respond, least of all because he didn’t care. This became evident when he didn’t offer up some kind of rebuttal to Shikaku.

Sighing when the silver haired ninja didn’t reply, Shikaku informed him. “It was a lot.”

Kakashi shrugged. “Your point is?”

“My point.” Shikaku glared hostily. “Is that he’ll be out for blood when he finishes it all.”

“You said it was a lot.”

“Yeah.” Shikaku nodded.

“So I’m safe for a while.” Kakashi grinned back at him.

Shikaku shook his head at the man’s lame response. “Sooner or later you’re going to cease to be useful and then he’s going to really make you suffer.”

Kakashi waved his hand back at the shadow user, dismissing his claim. “Please. Ibiki might threaten me...Or lecture me until he’s blue in the face.” He paused as if to think about the last time he’d seen such a thing. Shikaku clearing his throat had Kakashi nodding. “Right, but there’s no way I’ll be useless to him.”

Shikaku raised a brow as if thinking the opposite. Kakashi held his gaze in return, not bothering to counteract the man’s silent reproach to Ibiki’s plan to main him. Deciding it was in both of theirs best interest, Shikaku changed the subject.

“Heard that Izumo managed to do his first night shift.”

Kakashi tilted his head. “Kotetsu wasn’t with him?” This was news, the two were almost always paired with each other. If not with each other than one of them was with Iruka, it was rare for them to be paired with others.

Shikaku laughed. “They might be thick as thieves, but they’re boss isn’t stupid. He knows that Kotetsu would keep Izumo alert, if anything this was a test.”

“Ah.” Kakashi nodded. “So how’d he do?”

Out of all the boys Izumo was the one that was easily distracted or the most likely to shirk his duties.

“Apparently when the next shift came to relieve him, he was hanging upside down by his knees from one of the lantern posts.”

Kakashi raised a brow. “Uh huh...Did he do that to himself or is there someone in the village now that we should be worried about?”

Shikaku laughed, shaking his head. “He wasn’t tied up Kakashi, he did it to himself. He was bored. Izumo apparently wanted to see how long he could last upside down. A friend of theirs must have issued the challenge.”

Kakashi sighed. “Not the best thing to be doing while on night watch.”

Shikaku shook his head in agreement. “Still he was awake.”

They had to give the boy props for that.

“If not a little brain dead.” Kakashi muttered. “If someone had come along-”

“I know.”

Kakashi sighed. “Maybe it’s for the best that he be paired with Kotetsu or Iruka all the time. They keep him focused.”

Shikaku huffed. “They keep him focused by smacking him upside the head.”

“A little brain damage never hurt anyone.”

Shikaku gave him a thoughtful look which had the other shrugging. Shaking his head the shadow user continued. “Either way the kid managed to impress his boss to some extent.”

“Well that’s good.”

As if thinking better of it, Shikaku brought up the subject of Iruka. The teen had been sent on a mission and had just gotten back two days ago. “How’d Iruka do on that mission to-”

Kakashi snickered, making Shikaku sigh. “You shouldn’t enjoy it when he suffers.”

Kakashi waved a hand. “It’s good for him. Helps him grow.”

Shikaku chose to ignore that statement, instead choosing to mutter. “What happened?”

Kakashi leaned forward a grin across his face. “Apparently one of his teammates slipped and got their leg stuck in the ice they were crossing. Stepped straight through the ice into the freezing river below. It took both Iruka and the other man on their squad to pull the idiot free.”

“Alright...I’m not seeing how that would be so upsetting to Iruka?”

“I wasn’t finished.” Kakashi grouched. “When they pulled the poor bastard free, they all fell backwards.”

Shikaku groaned seeing where this was headed. “They didn’t.”

“They did.” Kakashi laughed. “They all fell into the ice sheet and broke it. They were soaked.”

“They could have gotten hypothermia.”

Kakashi gave a nod. “Oh I know, but lucky for them they weren’t far from where they were supposed to turn in the scroll they had been sent to deliver. They made it to the village and got warmed up, but Iruka’s pretty sour about the whole thing.” The Anbu laughed.

Shikaku shook his head. “Feel sorry for the poor bastard that caused that, he’s going to be on Iruka’s shit list for a while.”

“I know.” Kakashi cackled gleefully.

“You’re far too amused by this.”

Kakashi shook his head. “That’s not the best part.” He laughed once more.

“Please enlighten me.” Shikaku put his chin into his palm, staring back at the other Anbu who was far too amused to be regaling him with the woes of one of their boys.

“Iruka got home and when I dropped by he demanded to know some way to prevent that from happening again.”

Shikaku snorted. “What’d you tell him?”

“I told him not to be stupid enough to try and force someone’s leg back through the same sheet of ice your balancing on.”

“I’m sure he loved that.”

“Not so much.” Kakashi shook his head. “He threw a wooden spoon at me.”

Shikaku gave a bark of laughter. “That I can believe.”

Kakashi gave his friend a put out look. “Why does that amuse you more than what I just told you about the kids mission?”

“Probably because I find more humor in your suffering than his.” Shikaku muttered with a smile. Straightening out, the shadow user let his hand fall into his lap now that he wasn’t using it to brace his own head. “I take it that he’s all settled back into his day to day stuff then.”

Kakashi gave a nod. “Yeah, he had yesterday off. Don’t know what his plans were for the day, I had to watch the counsel.” Kakashi made a face. “So boring.”

“Important.”

“Boring.” Kakashi countered. “They just sit there.”

Shikaku rolled his eyes. “They’re sitting there to help the make sure the hokage has all the information he needs in order to make informed decisions for the village.”

Kakashi blinked. “You’re not changing my mind here...It’s still boring.”

Sighing the older man ignored Kakashi’s stubbornness. “What about today? He back on the wall?”

“Yeah. He was looking forward to spending some time with the other two miscreants.”

Shikaku smirked. “Well at least if they’re together there’s less chance of something going wrong.”

Kakashi hummed. “True.”

 

*********

 

Himiko rolled her eyes when she heard what Kakashi was saying about his latest stint as a guard for the hokage. “You’re being dramatic.”

Kakashi gave a horrified gasp. “I am not.” The Anbu went onto say. “If you could have seen him, you’d agree. I mean I feel sorry for the hokage, he had to sit there and listen to the man. I only had to watch from the outside.”

Shikaku chuckled. “What was the whole thing about?”

Kakashi shrugged. “From what I could gather some kind of mediation about getting more supplies for his orchard.”

“An orchard...That’s what he was seeing the hokage about?” The disbelief in Himiko’s voice just had Kakashi shrugging.

“I know, but that’s what he was talking about.”

“You were reading his lips though, you might ha-” Himiko was cut off by Kakashi tapping the left side of his mask. She sighed. “Fine.” The woman bit out. “He was there about an orchard.”

“The more important thing here is why the hell you’d record that.”

Kakashi sighed. “Trust me, I didn’t want to.” The Anbu grumbled. “I didn’t have a choice though, it was the only way to really know what was going on.”

“Didn’t he have someone in the office with him?” Shikaku questioned.

It was pretty standard for at least one of the hokage’s Anbu guard to be in the office with him, normally standing in one of the corners so as to be unobtrusive to the man’s work.

Kakashi shook his head. “Nope. He made Rabbit leave.”

“Huh...That’s odd.”

Kakashi nodded his head. “I Know, which is why I was listening in.”

Shikaku hummed, about to state what he thought on the matter only to sigh when the back door slammed open. All eyes turned to the doorway only to widen at the sight of Izumo, the teen was still wearing his usual attire for his guard duty. The only key difference being that the teen was bruised and battered and his clothing had blood on it.

“Izumo!” Himiko shrieked in surprise at the state of the teen, she managed two steps before the teen shouted.

“You’ve got to come see this.” The broad grin on his face stalled them, but the teen didn’t slow down at all. Twisting about to leave the kitchen he’d just stormed into.

“Alright...” Kakashi rose from the table and followed after Himiko who was the first to follow after the teen, coming through the backdoor the three adults paused. Izumo still grinning like a loon despite his own harried appearance. Holding back his sheer pleasure of what was happening, Izumo proudly stated.

“We brought you a present!”

The adults stood there in surprise. Kotetsu and Iruka were holding onto a struggling man, both teen’s grimacing as they forced the man to stay on his knees despite his obvious protest to that. Kotetsu gritting out through his teeth.

“Knock it off.”

Iruka grunted as the man threw his shoulder into the teen’s gut, but his hold remained the same.

“What’s going on?” Himiko took a step forward only for Izumo to twist about and stop her.

“We brought you a present...Well sorta.” He glanced back at the harried man before turning his sights on the adults. “Our boss said he’s supposed to see the head of his clan and seeing as he was using shadows...We figured you could help with the whole throwing his ass at the clan leader thing.” The teen smirked.

Shikaku pushed past his wife to glower down at the man, the man glared up at him. Obviously not aware that he was staring up at the man now responsible for him. Masks tended to hide one's identity.

“What happened?” Shikaku bit out.

Kotetsu huffed as the man struggled in his hold. “Knock it off.” Kotetsu jerked the man’s shoulder back to keep him as still as possible.

Shikaku glared all the harder to the struggling man. “If you’ve got a brain in that skull of yours, you’ll hold still for them before I make you hold still.”

The man just grimaced even as he jerked a bit in the teen’s hold.

Izumo laughed. “You do realize what that mask is right?” The teen pointed at Shikaku before stating as if the man was an idiot. “He’s Anbu.”

Shikaku sighed. “Izumo. Stay out of this.”

The teen huffed. “Bu-”

“Izumo.” The Anbu bit out sharply.

“Fine.” The teen sighed as he came to stand beside Kotetsu who was still maintaining a firm hold on the struggling man.

“Now who wants to tell me what’s going on?”

Kotetsu huffed as he took the man’s shoulder into his hip. “Would you cut that shit out!” Kotetsu wrenched the man’s arm back further eliciting a sharp cry from the man.

“Damn it kid.” The man spit out between clenched teeth.

“Stop being a dick and I won’t have to do that.” Kotetsu bit out just as sharply.

Iruka gave a tired sigh as he held the man’s other should prostrate against himself. “That’s not going to happen, don’t disappoint yourself.” He glanced towards Wolf only to mutter. “Some first day back this has turned out to be.”

Kakashi laughed as he came to stand beside Shikaku, disregarding the man the two boys were holding captive. Lord knows the man had to be suicidal to be acting up like he was in front of them, but he’d leave that to Shikaku to sort out. The man was his problem after all. Instead Kakashi catalogued the state of the two teens before him.

Kotetsu had a busted lip and a cut above his brow which was still sluggishly bleeding down into his eye, Kotetsu kept blinking as if to clear the blood away. No doubt the gash had stopped bleeding for a time only to break open once more, more than likely because of the idiot they were wrestling with. The kid’s cloths were askew, filthy with dirt and spatterings of blood. Though Kakashi couldn’t be sure if that belonged to Kotetsu or to the man he was holding.

His gaze flitted over to Iruka to see that the boys nose had to be broken, blood covered his mouth and chin, a dark bruising was already settling on the bridge of his nose. The teen had what appeared to be a blooming bruise on the crest of his jaw, though the blood from his nose was masking the majority of it. Likewise Iruka’s clothing was a mess, though his had more blood on him. Kakashi knew that it was most likely Iruka’s given the state of his nose.

Shaking his head at the sight the two teen’s made, Kakashi glanced down to the culprit. The man was roughed up, there was no doubt about that. Parts of his clothing were torn, not from weapons but from the teen’s hands grasping tightly to it in some effort to restrain him. If Kakashi was to hazard a guess it was when they were initially trying to take the man down. Which meant that the man hadn’t come quietly to begin with. The man had a bloody nose and a busted lip, but otherwise didn’t appear to have taken much damage. Kakashi was surprised at the level of restraint the two teens had...Well three. Kakashi was sure that Izumo had helped. The other teen’s appearance lending him to being in the same scuffle his friends had been. Still the man kneeling before them should have been a lot worse off or at least he would have been if Kakashi had been in charge of him.

“So what happened?”

“Yes, I want to know that as well.” Shikaku’s words were sharp like knives.

Kakashi gleefully wondered what the man was going to do to his own clansmen, the poor bastard didn’t even know how deep of a hole he’d stepped in. Then again he didn’t seem overly intelligent given how he snorted back at Shikaku and continued glaring.

Kakashi chuckled. “Wow. You are stupid.”

The man’s glare twisted towards him, but Kakashi just smiled beneath his mask. “Lets see...Jounin?” Kakashi leaned forward to pull on the man’s vest aside to verify for himself. The man tried to pull back away from him only to grimace when the two teens holding him yanked him forward.

“Thanks boys.” He idly commented while pulling the man’s vest aside now that the man was being held still. They grunted in reply. Kakashi was smiling beneath his mask as he finally found what he was looking for, the small little piece of fabric sewn just inside the collar of the man’s flak jacket. “Yep Jounin. Which means you should be smart enough to know not to resist arrest.” Kakashi took a step back after releasing the glaring man. “Then again...Maybe not.”

Shikaku shook his head. “Boys what happened?”

Before Iruka or Kotetsu could get a word in edgewise, Izumo did. “He was caught smuggling in urahi liquor.” Izumo smirked. “One of the bottles broke before he could even try to get past us.”

The shinobi in custody glared at Izumo, the boy shrugged. “What are you glaring at me for, your the idiot who tried to smuggle alcohol into the village. I don’t know if you don’t know this, but we do have bars.”

Kakashi chuckled at the kids wit. “Urahi is a bit different Izumo.”

Shikaku hummed. “And costly. You were going to make a good sum of money if you sold that here. Smuggling the liquor here is bad enough, it’s illegal. Distributing it is worse.”

“Uh doesn’t he get in trouble for being a dick?” Izumo questioned the Anbu.

Kakashi chuckled. “Sure, we can tack that on.”

“Thank you.” Izumo nodded towards Wolf.

Kotetsu smirked at his friend even as he maintained a firm hold on their captive. “So...Uh what now?”

Shikaku sighed. “We’ll take it from here.”

“You will, I want to hear this.” Kakashi interrupted the man.

Shikaku sent a glare towards Kakashi before muttering under his breath. ‘ _useless_.’ Staring down at his clansmen, Shikaku informed him. “Your clan leader will be talking to the hokage directly about this, until then you’ll be in jail.”

“Whatever, just get these brats off of me.”

Iruka huffed. “Yeah cause we’re obviously the problem here.”

The man twisted his head to glare at Iruka, the teen gave the man a bored look in reply. “Maybe all that liquor fried your brain, you’ve been back talking in front of Anbu.”

The man snorted. “So what, I’m already in trouble.”

“Being a dick doesn’t help things for you.” Kotetsu muttered.

“Shut your trap.” The man bit out. “And let me go.” The man jerked his arms once more, causing the two teens to dig their heels in and hold the man back. Iruka joining Kotetsu in positioning the man’s shoulder’s in such a way that if he tried again he’d dislocate them. The man made a pained sound at the improvised hold.

“See we can be dick’s too, it’s not nice is it?”

Kakashi chuckled at Iruka, shaking his head before informing the teen. “Technically you’re just maintaining security over a prisoner who would otherwise try to escape.”

“Get. Them. Off. Of. Me.” The prisoner growled.

Sighing Shikaku waved a hand at the teens. “Alright, Let him up.”

The two stared back at him in shock. Shikaku waved his hand once more. “Come on boys, we’ll  tak-” He glanced towards Kakashi before sighing as he thought better of it. “I’ll take care of it.”

The two teen’s didn’t look overly impressed with the new orders, but did as asked releasing the man. The jounin was glaring even as he jerked his arms forward out of the Chunin’s grasp, scrambling to his feet. The man glared back at the Chunin’s, turning to face forward the man soon found himself flat on his back. Groaning in pain from the punch he had just received from the Anbu. Kotetsu and Iruka had jerked away from the falling man, but now looked up at Raccoon in shock.

“Thank you boys, I didn’t want to hit you by mistake.”

They nodded in reply, neither knowing what to say to that. Shikaku leveled a furious glare down at his clansmen who was still groaning on the ground. The Anbu wasn’t sure what he was supposed to tell the Hokage about this, but one thing was for sure. The third wasn’t going to feel sorry for the man when he complained about Shikaku hitting him.

“Now, get your ass up. We’re going to go have you booked.”

The Jounin groaned even as he rolled back onto his hands and knees, climbing back to his feet with a bit of a stumble. He glared with watery eyes back at the Anbu, bracing his face with a hand.

“That’s brutality.”

Shikaku and Kakashi both chuckled causing the man’s eyes to widen.

“And what you did to them was?...” Kakashi waved a hand at the boys.

The man glared. “That’s different.”

“Umm...No. No it was not.” Izumo chimed in. “Though to be fair we wouldn’t call it brutality, we just call it you being a dick. What we did to you is considered doing our jobs.”

The man glared over at Izumo. “He didn’t have to hit me.” The jounin pointed out gruffly.

“I’m pretty sure he did.” Izumo countered. “Looked to me like you were about to run for it.”

The man gave Izumo a confused look. Kotetsu and Iruka chuckled from behind him, already knowing what game Izumo was playing. Glancing around to the different teens who had taken part in his arrest, the man twisted back around to stare at the Anbu in front of him. It was easy to see that they were willing to conspire against him and the Anbu in front of him weren’t liable to help him.

The man muttered. “Just fucking arrest me.”

Shikaku smirked beneath his mask. “With pleasure.” Shikaku reached out and grabbed the collar of the man’s vest none too gently, the two disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Leaving the rest of the group behind. Kotetsu and Iruka sighed in relief now that it was over, Izumo on the other hand startled everyone by shouting.

“That was great!”

Kotetsu and Iruka glared at their friend, both replying with equal amounts of fervor. “Fantastic.” “Yeah.”

Kakashi chuckled at the put out teens, Himiko sighed even as she grabbed Izumo’s arm and started dragging him back towards the house. “Get those two would you.”

“Sure.” Kakashi replied easily as if she needed to ask him. “Come on, don’t make me arrest you.” He couldn’t help but tease.

Iruka let out a huff of laughter. “I really don’t feel up to resisting arrest right now.”

“Me either.” Kotetsu sighed as he followed along side his friend.

Kakashi shook his head at the two tired Chunin. “You did good.”

They glanced his way, both skeptical. “Didn’t feel good.” Kotetsu muttered.

“Felt like my nose breaking.” Iruka commented dryly.

Kotetsu nodded. “I’ve got blood in my eye, I shouldn’t have blood in my eye.”

Iruka nodded to back up his friends statement, even as blood continued to dribble out of one of his nostrils.

Kakashi laughed at the sight of them. “That’s how you know you did good.”

The two teens looked at each other, twin sighs leaving them. “Great.” “Wonderful.”

Kakashi pushed them along back into the house. Once inside they found Himiko checking Izumo out, the excited Chunin wasn’t making her job any easier given how he refused to hold still. He was ranting and raving about what all had happened. Kotetsu and Iruka couldn’t help it, they chuckled at their exuberant friend. Neither saying a word to his over dramatization of the events that had taken place just a little while ago. Kakashi lead them towards the table, having them sit down. He took a look at one and then the other before tsking. “Well you two are quite the pair right now.”

Iruka glared up at Wolf. “You’re not funny.”

Kakashi chuckled. “Well, we can argue about that later. Right now I need to set that nose.”

Iruka grimaced at the mere thought of it. “Please don’t.”

Kakashi smirked at the teen’s lame attempt to prevent him from doing so. “You don’t want it to heal that way, trust me.”

The Chunin sighed. “Let a med nin do it, at least they numb it.”

The Anbu snorted at the lie. “No.” He shook his head. “They don’t, but nice try.”

Iruka gave a lopsided grin. “It was worth a shot.” The hum he got in reply from his Anbu told a different story. Watching warily as Wolf knelt down so as to be at a better height with him, Iruka swallowed when the Anbu reached out.

“Wol-”

Kakashi quickly cut the teen off, wanting to get the whole thing over with just as much as the Chunin did. “Alright, take a nice calm breat-”

“Just do it I do-OW!”

A sharp crack and a startled yelp of pain was all it took for Iruka’s noise to be wrenched back into proper alignment.

Kakashi laughed as he released the teen’s nose which was now gushing blood once more. “There, all fixed.”

Iruka cupped his hand around his nose, trying to stop the blood from falling to the floor. Iruka knew that he was a lost cause, he already had blood all down his front. That didn’t mean however that he wanted to get blood all over Himiko’s kitchen floor. Kakashi smiled back at the teen who was glaring at him with watery eyes.

“Get him a towel.” Himiko bit out even as she tended to Kotetsu’s brow.

Nodding the Anbu rose out of the crouch he’d been in and quickly located the nearest towel. Walking over Kakashi snatched up one of the hand towels near the sink. Iruka ripped it out of his hand once he returned with it, pressing it gently against his nose. A muffled. ‘You suck’ came from beneath the towel.

Kakashi laughed. “Hey now, I fixed it.”

“That’s why you suck.” Izumo intoned for his friend.

Iruka nodded even as he continued to maintain pressure against his bleeding nose. The Anbu shrugged. Izumo leaned over in his seat, watching Iruka a moment. “Did it hurt worse when it broke or when he fixed it?” Izumo’s general curiosity about things had Iruka glaring at his friend.

“Why don’t I show you.”

Izumo jerked back in his seat, raising his hands up. “I’m good.”

Kakashi shook his head as he watched the two Chunin bicker with each other like they always had. “Alright that’s enough of that. Any other injuries we should know about?”

Iruka and Izumo shook their heads, Iruka more carefully than his friend. Kotetsu tried to do so, only to wince and have Himiko huff as she tried to stitch his brow. “Sorry.” He muttered.

“Just hold still.”

Iruka and Izumo shared twin grins at their chastised friend. Unable to help himself, Kakashi taunted Iruka. “So was this worse than the ice incident that you told me about the other day?”

Iruka glared back at his Anbu. “You’re really not funny.” His glare hardened when Wolf shrugged his shoulders as if he wasn’t the least bit bothered by what the Chunin had said.

“So what’s going to happen with the dick?”

Kotetsu gave a sharp laugh at the crude question that he knew his friend hadn’t caught onto saying. Himiko rolled her eyes at the child like behavior. Kakashi snickered beneath his mask.

Iruka snorted in amusement only to groan, his hand tightening around the towel as the gesture brought pain through his sinuses. Kakashi winced in sympathy. Izumo froze having realized that he’d caused his friend to react in such a way.

“Sorry.” The teen uttered quietly. Glancing towards Wolf. “What did I say?”

Shaking his head Kakashi didn’t bother to try and explain it. “Don’t worry about it, just try not to make him do that.”

Izumo replied with a small nod, his attention turning back to his friend. “Sorry Iruka.”

Iruka shook his head even as he kept his eyes closed and braced himself around his nose. Kakashi sighed even as he reached out to pat the kid’s shoulder. Answering Izumo’s question even if the boy hadn’t quite phrased it in an appropriate manner. “Well like Raccoon said, the head of his clan will meet with the hokage about the whole thing. The hokage might ask to speak to all of you and then he’ll decide what the guys punishment is.”

“What’ll happen to the liquor?”

Kakashi gave Izumo a put out look, which was pretty impressive since he only had his eyes to use for it. “It’ll be destroyed.”

The teen sighed. “Seems like a waste.”

“There’s a reason it’s illegal I’m sure.” Himiko cast a look towards Kakashi.

The Anbu nodded. “Yeah people tend to OD on the stuff, it’s really strong and it doesn’t take much to cause alcohol poisoning. The second hokage banned the stuff after a celebration turned deadly, some thirty people died.”

“Wow.” Izumo blinked in surprise. “And that dick was going to sell it?”

Himiko sighed. “Izumo.” The breathy reply of the boys name had Izumo twisting to stare at the kunoichi in confusion. “What?”

Kotetsu and Iruka shared amused looks with each other. Kakashi just shook his head at the boys.

“That dick has a name.” Kakashi couldn’t help but try and inform the teen before he could piss off Himiko.

Izumo gave a nod. “Do you know it?” Silence. “Then I reserve the right to call him a dick.”

Kakashi couldn’t argue that point, luckily for him Himiko folded too.

Himiko sighed. “Fine.” The displeasure in the woman’s voice was clear to their ears, but she couldn’t really argue seeing as no one really knew the man’s name. Izumo seemed proud of the fact he’d outmaneuvered them.

“Right. So the head of his clan is going to rip him a new a-”

“Izumo.” Himiko threatened sharply.

The teen sighed. “He’s gonna get torn into by the head of his clan and then he’s going to get torn into by the hokage.”

“Yes.” Kakashi nodded.

“Wow...That kinda sucks.”

Kakashi nodded once more. “Yeah, it does.” The Anbu laughed. “That’s why you shouldn’t smuggle in illegal items into the village.”

Izumo chuckled. “Well that and the fact that it gives us a chance to beat on someone.”

Iruka huffed from beneath the towel still held against his nose. “He beat on us too Izumo, it wasn’t a one sided affair.”

Kotetsu backed him up. “You weren’t all sunshines and daisies when he threw you into the wall.”

Izumo gave a shrug as if it didn’t bother him.

Sighing his two friends let the subject drop, now that he was clean Kotetsu was the one to bring up. “We need to get back.”

Izumo whined. “Come on, we got the bad guy.”

Iruka shook his head even as he tested to see if his nose had stopped bleeding. “We still have another two hours, getting the bad guy doesn’t mean we get to go home.” Iruka sighed in relief when it appeared that his nose had finished draining itself of blood. Though he was sure that it was going to hurt for days, he wasn’t too keen on how the bruising was going to look either.

“Are you sure?”

Iruka sent a look towards Wolf, silently asking for the Anbu’s help. Kakashi grinned, not that Iruka could see that. “Iruka has a point, you can’t shirk your duties just because you got into a scuffle.”

Izumo snorted. “We left blood on the wall.”

“Yes well I’m sure he’ll think better of it the next time he tries to smuggle stuff into the village.”

Kotetsu shook his head at Wolf. “No, Izumo meant our blood.”

Himiko made a face. “Be that as it may, you boys can’t just stay here. If you don’t need a med nin, then you should head back.”

“So if we needed on-”

“Go back to work Izumo.” Himiko glared at the teen.

Izumo huffed. “Fine...But It’s so boring.”

Iruka and Kotetsu glared at Izumo. “We finished apprehending someone and that was boring?”

Izumo shrugged.

“March.” Iruka got to his feet. “I can’t promise your blood won’t join ours if you resist going back to work.”

Kakashi laughed. “Now now Iruka, there’s no need for threats.”

Iruka glared back at him. “My nose is broken.”

“I fixed it.”

Iruka shook his head. “No, you broke it the other direction so it’d heal correctly.”

The Anbu hummed. “Technically that’s correct...Still it’s fixed.”

Kotetsu let out a huff of amusement. “Come on you two, we’ve only got a little while longer.” He tried to urge his friends towards the present goal, returning to work.

Izumo gave a nod, already headed for the door. Kotetsu smiled back at Himiko.

“Thanks.” He motioned towards his head, the small row of stitches the woman gave him.

“Better than having you bleed all over yourself.” She gave a distasteful glance towards the teen’s clothing. Kotetsu chuckled. “We’ll get cleaned up once we’re off duty.”

“God a shower sounds nice...I have blood up my nose.”

Kotetsu gave his friend a look only to laugh when Iruka muttered. “Not a word.” Iruka pointed at his friend who was poorly trying to stifle his own amusement. Izumo was laughing in the background.

Himiko smiled. “You boys be careful, we’ll see you when your finished with your shift.”

Kotetsu gave a nod and headed for the door, not trusting Izumo to not wander off now that he’d left ahead of him. Iruka sighed. “I know this is bad, but I really hope Raccoon left a mark on him.”

Kakashi laughed. “Trust me, he’s going to feel that punch.”

Himiko smirked. “Go back to work honey.”

Iruka nodded, giving a wave to them both before heading out the door to rejoin his friends. The boys weren’t gone more than five minutes before Himiko made the comment. “You realize what he’s going to do right?”

“Hmm?”   

Himiko gave Kakashi a look, the Anbu chuckled. “He’s going to lay into him so hard that he’ll pray for the hokage.” Then proceeded to add. “I figured as much. He’s got a slew of charges against him right now, the least of which being resisting arrest, assaulting the Chunin apprehending him, being a dick-.”

Himiko glared back at the Anbu. “Being a dick isn’t a charge.”

Kakashi smirked. “It is when you were doing it in front of an Anbu.” Sighing Himiko waved a hand for him to continue, it wasn’t worth arguing about. “There’s the whole smuggling thing of course, but the distributing thing is going to be the real nail in his coffin.”

“How long do you think he’s looking at?”

Kakashi hummed a moment. “Knowing Shikaku like I do, he won’t hold back on that ingrate...He’ll recommend the hokage give him a longer sentence for doing what he did to the boys.” Himiko’s lips twitched as if she was fighting not to smile upon hearing that. Kakashi grinned himself. “Of course the hokage will take that into consideration...All things considered, ten years minimum.”

Himiko whistled. “No wonder he was fighting back.”

Kakashi snorted. “The distributing is automatically five years, smuggling is one to three depending on how the hokage feels about it. Resisting arrest and assaulting those arresting him...Well that’s gonna tack on another four or five. Of course those are the loose estimates and the hokage can add more time if he feels it’s necessary.”

Himiko gave a nod. “Well he certainly wasn’t holding back on the boys.”

“They did say he was using shadows...” Kakashi mused. “Misuse of a clan technique isn’t an official charge, but I bet Shikaku tags it onto it. We’ll have to ask the boys what he was doing.”

“I’m sure my husband will just love to hear that.” She droned.

“Not really, but then again he got to punch the bastard and I didn’t. I think I get first crack at him when we figure out what he tried to do.”

Himiko smirked. “You aren’t a part of the clan.”

“I’m hurt.” Kakashi placed a hand over his chest. “After all I’ve done fo-”

“Kakashi.”

The man laughed. “Fine...Still I think it only fair that I get a crack at him, he did beat on the boys after all.”

“I’ll let you take that up with Shikaku and the hokage.”

Kakashi pouted beneath his mask. “It’s not like he doesn’t deserve it.”

“Whatever you say honey.”

Sighing, Kakashi shut up. Sometimes there was just no winning with the woman.  
  



	2. Sometimes the truth hurts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having successful apprehended the wanna be smuggler, the boys take time to relax. They don't appreciate being interrupted by their Anbu family, least of all when they hear why they've been interrupted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as promised, here is the end of the fic. You're welcome and once again Happy Halloween.

When Shikaku had returned his mood hadn’t been any better than when he’d left, he’d quickly asked how the boys had been before falling silent. Kakashi was observing the brooding man, for once in silence. Shikaku’s body language was closed off, he was angry and yet he wasn’t showing it. Himiko hadn’t yet commented on her husbands mood, instead going about cleaning up the supplies used on the boys. Cleaning up the small mess the boys blood had let and tsking over the state of the back door where Izumo had dirtied the frame not only with dust, but with blood. It was as she was busy cleaning it, that they first heard from Shikaku since he’d entered his silent brooding faze.

“The hokage wasn’t pleased.”

Kakashi snorted. “That’s not overly surprising given how dangerous that liquor is.”

Shikaku hummed. “He’s upset about that.” Shikaku admitted. “But he was more upset that he’d turn on his own villages shinobi so as not to get caught.”

Kakashi tilted his head, observing the man’s present body language. “You know something we don’t.”

Himiko turned away from the door to stare at her husband, a frown marring her face. “Shikaku?”

Sighing the Nara shook his head. “I took him directly to the hokage.”

“Oh?” Kakashi was surprised to hear that. “I thought you were going to get him booked, let him stew a bit.”

Shikaku shook his head. “I thought about it a minute and decided to change plans. I wanted to make sure that this wasn’t an isolated incident. That there wasn’t more of that liquor somewhere in the village.”

“Fair enough.” Himiko gave a smile towards her husband. “What did the hokage say?”

“No trace of the liquor has been found in the village, so this was either his first attempt in bringing the stuff in or-”

“Or he’s really good so as not to get caught.” Kakashi mused.

Shikaku glared at the younger man. “No, it’s not just that.” He shook his head. “The hokage thinks that he was using our village as a way to distribute the liquor elsewhere.”

“Wait...I thought he was distributing the liquor here.” Himiko stated in a confused manner.

“That’s what I thought too, but the hokage thinks that because there hasn’t been a single incident involving the liquor here in Konoha that he was really just passing it off to other people for them to deliver it.”

“Missions.”

Himiko glanced towards Kakashi in surprise, barely catching the subtle nod that Shikaku gave. “It’s really the most logical and easiest way to transport the contraband across multiple nations. The hokage has to go through the mission roster to find out if there’s some kind of pattern to it all.”

“So he has friends who were distributing it from Konoha to the places they went while on missions...Not a bad racket.” Shikaku glared back at Kakashi. “What? I can’t find his methods interesting?”

The shadow user sighed. “I wouldn’t. The bastard admitted that the boys were the only ones at the gate when he was caught and that he didn’t intend to be caught.”

Kakashi sat up straighter upon hearing that. “Did he admit to that or just imply it?”

Shikaku shook his head. “Said that he shouldn’t have underestimated them because he was outnumbered, but he thought they were too green to take him on.”

“He was going to kill them wasn’t he.” Himiko’s voice was soft.

“Chances are...Yes.If he was able to get the upper hand on them, I don’t think he would have held back.” Shikaku sighed. “The hokage’s already handed him over to Ibiki, he’s not going to see the light of day for a long while.”

“Shame that.” Kakashi shot back bitterly. “Do you think the boys know?”

Shikaku shrugged. “I don’t think we should tell them. They’re new enough that it mi-”

“They deserve to know.”

Both Anbu twisted to stare at Himiko in surprise. She nodded to reinforce her previous words. “They deserve to know, if that man had been an outsider to the village they wouldn’t have held back. Just because he was from here they were lenient with him, even after he became combantent. If he’d managed to get the upper hand because of that...Things could have turned out a lot differently.” She cleared her throat from the tightness she felt. “They need to know that there are threats here...Sometimes even from our own people.”

The two Anbu sighed, neither wanting to cross that particular bridge. Still Himiko had a point, the boys had been lenient on the man and it could have cost them their lives. Kakashi gave a nod, his mind made up.

“We’ll tell them later tonight.”

Shikaku didn’t reply, Kakashi hadn’t really expected him to. Kakashi wasn’t looking forward to telling the boys either, but he understood what Himiko was saying. Better to prepare them then to lose them.

 

*************

 

The boys had been exhausted by the time they got back to the house, those two hours had gone by painstakingly slow. With the aches and pains from their scuffle with the jounin, they were all too eager to pass out on the nearest available surface. This was proven by the fact that Himiko barely got a word in edgewise before the boys migrated into her living room where they proceeded to collapse onto varying furniture in the room. Smirking she left them alone, she knew that the talk that was coming would be tiring in and of itself. Shikaku and Kakashi had only gone out to see if any new information had been gathered since the jounin had been turned into Ibiki.

Ten minutes later the two Anbu returned, she smirked at them and pointed towards the living room. “It’s been eerily quiet since they went it there.”

Sighing Kakashi walked through the doorway only to smirk, Shikaku came to stand just behind him.

“Huh guess they were tired.”

Shikaku gave a nod.

The boys were sprawled out across the varying furniture, Iruka was laying sideways over one of the recliners. His legs over one of the arms while his head lay on the opposite. Kotetsu and Izumo were on either side of the couch from each other, legs tangled as they lay like logs. Izumo’s arm flopped off of the couch towards the floor while Kotetsu had his head craned at an ungodly angle that was sure to have the teen suffering once he woke.

“So...You want to be the one to wake them?”

Shikaku glowered down at the man, Kakashi shrugged back. “What? They look so peaceful.”

Shikaku snorted at the man’s lie. “They look like a group of Chunin who had a shitty day at work and are exhausted. That is not peaceful, that is pure exhaustion and not giving a damn where you crash.” He waved a hand towards the boys as evidence.

“Close enough.” Kakashi argued with a sigh. “Fine, I’ll wake them.” He twisted about to hold up a finger. “But...I refuse to be the one to tell them the bad news.”

Shikaku raised a brow. “You refuse.” The amusement lacing the man’s voice wasn’t lost on Kakashi.

Kakashi gave a nod.

“Uh huh.” The shadow user was silent a moment, in a gruff voice muttered. “Wake the damn kids up.”

Sighing Kakashi walked over and grabbed Izumo and Kotetsu by an ankle each and then threw the appendages down to the floor, startling both by the sudden jerk to their bodies. The boys jolted upright in surprise, only to glance about catching just in time as Wolf threw one of Iruka’s legs off the arm of the chair he was sleeping in. It had the same effect, Iruka bolted upright only to groan when he saw Wolf.

“Seriously?” He asked in a tired voice.

Before any of them could start complaining to Wolf, Raccoon garnered their attention.

“Boys.”

The teens twisted to stare at Raccoon. “We have something to talk about.”

Sighing the teens straightened themselves out, Izumo was the first to question what kind of ‘talk’ they were having.

“Is this one of those talks that ends with us begging you to stop talking? Because if it is, I think I’ll pass.”

Kotetsu and Iruka gave a nod as if to back up their friends statement.

Shaking his head Shikaku barely got a word in edgewise before Kotetsu was cutting him off. “If this is about today can we just skip it and say that it all sucked.”

“Really sucked.” Iruka muttered.

“Boys!” They sighed unanimously. “It is about today, but not what you think.” Shikaku tried to inform them.

They nodded.

Not a minute later Izumo uttered. “We don’t have to clean up the wall do we?”

Iruka and Kotetsu glanced towards their friend with befuddled looks on their face. Izumo stared back at them before clarifying. “You guys bled on it.”

Iruka shared an irritated look with Kotetsu, before the latter informed their friend. “No, Izumo it’s not about the wall.”

Izumo shrugged. “How can you be so sure? It would make sense, it’s really the only thing that got destroyed...Well not destroyed so much as messed up.”

“Izumo.” Kakashi stated calmly. “It’s not about the wall, now pay attention.”

Izumo sighed, giving a nod to show that he was paying attention to what the Anbu had to say. Kakashi glanced towards Shikaku, silently giving him a look ‘you wanted to do this.’. Shikaku shot a glare back at him even as he cleared his throat.

“Right, we have a good suspicion that the liquor the man that you apprehended was smuggling wasn’t meant for our village, it was rather a funneling system.”

“What do you mean?”

“He wasn’t going to distribute to our village.” Kakashi answered the confused teens. “He was going to pass it onto other shinobi and have them distribute it to other villages or at least that is as much as we’ve gathered thus far.”

Kotetsu shook his head. “Wow. That’s a lot...Like he’s going away for a long time.”

Iruka nodded. “A really long time.”

“Did you figure out who he was working with?” Izumo questioned. “Cause chances are they’re waiting for the liquor he was supposed to deliver.” Izumo hummed. “And they’re most likely pissed that they’re not getting it.” The delight that came across the teen’s face had the two Anbu smirking beneath their masks.

“Not yet.”

Izumo hummed. “Well if anyone dies from liquor poisoning you might want to ask some questions.”

Kotetsu and Iruka chuckled before Kotetsu muttered. “They can’t if they die.”

“Not everyone dies when they have alcohol poisoning.” Izumo pointed out. “They just wish they did.”

Kotetsu and Iruka laughed.

“Boys.”

All three teen’s turned their attention back towards the Anbu who were giving them exasperated looks with just their eyes. Iruka smirked when he caught the fact that Wolf’s eyes didn’t hold nearly as much sternness to them as Raccoon’s. More than likely because the other man was finding this just as amusing as they were.

“So what was it you wanted to say?” Iruka smirked when he got a glare from the older Anbu.

“What I was trying to say was that we felt it would be best to inform you of what could have happened today.”

That caused the teen’s to pause, confusion flitting across all of their faces. 

“You guys did good, there’s no doubt about that.” Kakashi quickly intervened before Shikaku had a chance to make them second guess themselves. “You three managed to wrangle a Jounin who wasn’t in the state of mind to just hand himself over.”

“But.” Shikaku interjected before Kakashi could inflate their egos. “Something came to light when the man was being questioned. You three were the only ones who were aware of what was going on, you were secluded at your station.”

“Yeah so?”

Shikaku sighed as he glanced towards Izumo. “He was prepared to do whatever he needed in order to escape.”

Silence.

“Oh.” The three teens were silent, just staring back at the two Anbu who had just informed them of the real threat they could have faced that day.

“Are you sure?”

Iruka turned to give Kotetsu a perplexed look. “Why would they lie about that?”

Kotetsu shrugged. “I mean...I get that he was a jounin and all, but...He kinda sucked.”

Izumo nodded his head along side Kotetsu, Iruka sighed not wanting to be the one to argue that point. Especially because he pretty much agreed with them, instead he chose to look over at Wolf and shrug. The Anbu sighed in response.

“Boys, whether or not you thought he was a good shinobi that wasn’t the point I was trying to make.”

“Okay.” Kotetsu nodded. “What was the point then?”

“If he had chosen to really fight back before you got the upper hand of him, with how you were reacting around him...He could have and most likely would have tried to kill you.”

“I thought we covered that bit.” Izumo muttered. “Along with the part where he sucked.”

Sighing Shikaku sent Kakashi a look, the man nodded. “Right. Well what Raccoon is trying to say is that you guys did a great job...Except when it came to underestimating your enemy.”

Iruka frowned. “But he’s from here and it’s not like we kn-”

“You have to assume that everyone is a threat.”

Izumo snorted at the Anbu. “He’s from Konoha.”

Kakashi groaned, rubbing his head even though his mask was in the way. “Okay.” He let his hand fall away from his mask. “Okay, let's try this another way.” Walking over to Iruka, Kakashi placed his hand on the teen’s shoulder.

“If you didn’t know Iruka you would immediately be suspicious if he showed up at one of the gates with contraband. If he resisted arrest, you wouldn’t hold back right?”

Kotetsu frowned, but nodded and then proceeded to elbow Izumo before he could interrupt.

Kakashi went onto say. “If he wasn’t from this village you would treat him like any enemy you might come across on a mission.”

“Umm...Is this going where I think it’s going.”

Kotetsu and Iruka nodded towards Izumo. “Great.” The teen groused. “To be fair I’d like to point out that even though he’s not from here, Iruka’s not a dick...So he’s got that going for him.”

Iruka gave a bark of laughter. “Thanks Izumo.”

Kotetsu snorted. “Yeah so if you ever want to have a life of crime, you don’t look like a dick...You could probably get away with it.” He sent Izumo an amused look, the other teen glared.

“That wasn’t what I meant and you know it.”

Sighing Kakashi patted Iruka’s shoulder. “You get my point.”

Iruka twisted his head and nodded. “Yeah, we let our guard down because he’s from Konoha. We shouldn’t have done that, being from the same village doesn’t mean that your loyal or that you won’t harm your own people.”

“Good.” Kakashi nodded, looking towards Izumo he muttered. “And Iruka wouldn’t last long if he tried to have a life of crime.”

“Hey!”

Kakashi chuckled at the offended Chunin. “For the simple reason that I’d murder him for doing so.”

Iruka frowned back at his Anbu, admitting honestly. “I don’t know whether to be flattered or scared about that.”

His two friends had no problem chiming in with their own two cents. “Scared.” “Flattered.”

Iruka glanced to his friends. “You two aren’t helping any.”

They shrugged at the same time. Kakashi chuckled, patting Iruka’s shoulder once more even as he promised.

“Don’t worry, I promise I won’t kill you if you promise not to turn to a life of crime.”

“Deal.” Iruka replied dryly. 

Shikaku shook his head. “Well with that awkward conversation over with, how’d the last few hours of your shift go?”

The boys sighed. “Long.” “Tiring.” “Boring.”

The Anbu chuckled. “So about the same.”

“Minus the wall.” Izumo chimed in. “We now have a wall.”

Iruka rolled his eyes. “That’s not a good thing Izumo. No one else has a wall.”

Izumo smiled broadly. “That’s my point!”

Kotetsu sighed. “Just let him have it Iruka.”

Shaking his head the scarred teen sighed. “Fine, but I want it known that I think this is sad.”

“You’re not the only one.” Kakashi whispered from beside Iruka.

The teen twisted his head to smirk at the Anbu.

“What’d he say?”

“Nothing.” Iruka and Kakashi replied in unison.

Kotetsu chuckled. “Wow that was a bad lie.”

“All I’m saying is that no one should be excited to have a blood spattered wall.” Iruka pointed out even as he raised his hands in a submissive gesture.

Izumo shook his head and quickly pointed out. “You thought it was interesting earlier.”

Iruka rolled his eyes. “Yeah in a disgusting, that used to be inside us and is now splashed across a wall kinda way.”

The two Anbu chuckled as the teen’s went back and forth.

“He’s got a point.” Kotetsu muttered. “And besides technically we got the bad guy.” He attempted to make his friend feel better.

Izumo gave a small nod, that was true.

“And despite what they said, we didn’t get killed. So that’s a plus right?” Iruka shot Wolf a sly grin, the Anbu’s glower showed how much he enjoyed that joke. 

“You’re not funny.” Kakashi shot back.

Iruka grinned in response, not the least bit bothered by the Anbu’s irritation. “Hey it’s your fault, we were happy in our ignorance. Your the ones that decided to rain on that parade.”

“Better to rain on it then to bury it.” Shikaku groused.

Izumo huffed at them all. “I want it known I was having a good nap before this depressing conversation.”

Kotetsu smirked at his friend. “You still have a wall if that makes you happy.”

Izumo glared at his friend.

“Alright boys, we just wanted to make sure you were all aware of how serious this was.”

“Doom and gloom, got it.” Izumo nodded.

Shikaku snorted at the cocky teen. “It sometimes makes me worry when you take a serious topic and muddle it down to two or three words.”

Izumo tilted his head. “ I’m not wrong am I?”

Kotetsu and Iruka chuckled.

“You’re not exactly right either.” Kakashi chimed in. “It’s not like we meant to scare you guys or anything, we just wanted to make you aware of the possible danger.”

Izumo snorted at the Anbu. “You do realize that’s a load of bullshit right?”

Wolf blinked back at him in surprise. “Excuse me?”

Izumo rolled his eyes. “We’re shinobi, when isn’t there someone trying to kill us?”

Iruka and Kotetsu burst out laughing, leaving the Anbu to fend for himself. Sighing Kakashi muttered. “ I would hope that this doesn’t happen often when you’re inside the village, if it does you should have reported something sooner.”

Iruka chuckled at his Anbu’s dry wit. “He’s got a point Izumo.”

The teen huffed. “You’re always on his side.”

Iruka rolled his eyes. “I wasn’t on his side when he decided it would be great fun to throw us off a waterfall.”

“That was for your own benefit.” Wolf quickly interjected.

Iruka glanced towards the Anbu. “Bull. You just wanted to hear us scream.”

Shikaku snorted. “That was part of it.”

“Hush, you’re not helping.”

“Never said I was going to.” Came the quick retort even as Shikaku settled himself into his favorite chair. Iruka smirked at the two Anbu, turning his attention solely on Wolf. “We’ve argued about things plenty of times...Mostly when you’re being mean.”

“You call it mean, I call it educational.”

Iruka wasn’t the only one to make a noise of derision for the man’s comment. Kakashi sighed. “I don’t feel the love here.”

“I’d hug you, but you told me not to trust anyone.” Izumo chimed in with a grin.

Kotetsu snickered but quickly turned it into a cough when Wolf glowered at him. Iruka looked away from the Anbu towards a wall, even while biting his lip. Izumo however didn’t have such self preservation techniques and instead chose to mutter.

“Don’t feel bad Wolf, we still love you.”

Shikaku shook his head at the teens antics. “Kid, I don’t think I’ve said this enough...But you got balls.”

Izumo smirked. “I’ve heard that a lot.”

Iruka and Kotetsu both gave dry looks towards their friend. “Yeah mostly when you’re doing stupid shit.”

“Language.”

Iruka smirked at Kotetsu who ducked his head when he was caught. Izumo wasn’t so nice and blatantly laughed at his friend. Kotetsu glared back at him.

“I’d watch it, I could tell them all the colorful words you used at the wall.”

Izumo rolled his eyes. “I didn’t see you watching your language when he decided to kick you in the ba-”

“Izumo there’s no way he could have held that in.” Iruka quickly pointed out. “I don’t think any guy could.” He remarked in a annoyed tone. “It was rather below the belt.”

“Literally.” Izumo snickered.

Kotetsu glared at his friend. “Laugh it up, I didn’t kiss the wall.”

Izumo rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” He turned his sights on Iruka, only for his friend to interject.

“Careful. I’ve got more than enough information to see you helping with the deer for a month.”

Izumo was silent a moment, then turned his head a bit towards Wolf. “He’s decided to go into a life of criminal activities. I’d like you to stop him now, for all of our safety of course.”

Iruka launched himself away from Wolf, only for Izumo to laugh as he tore out of the room. Kotetsu sighed as the pair ran through the kitchen. Startling Himiko on their way out the back door, no sooner than had it crashed closed than did the woman shout.

“I don’t want to know!”

Kotetsu glanced towards the two Anbu. “Why did my boss put me in charge of them?”

The two men smirked to themselves.

“It’s good practice for the responsibility of maintaining a team, leadership and all that jazz.” Kakashi replied with mirth.

Kotetsu snorted. “I’ve got more than enough practice when it comes to Izumo, I would think that would be enough for any promotion.” Shaking his head the teen added. “At least Iruka’s normal.”

The teen glanced up when Wolf burst out laughing, glowering at the older man Kotetsu replied. “Yeah well I blame you for that.” Kotetsu left a bewildered Anbu behind as he made to go locate his friends.

Shikaku chuckled as Kakashi looked confused as to what had just happened.

“Yeah, he called you out.”

Kakashi glared. “He did not.”

“He blames you for Iruka.”

Rolling his eyes, Kakashi couldn’t help but point out. “Iruka’s not my kid.”

“Might as well be.” Shikaku shrugged. “Tell me there’s not at least ten Anbu who think that kid is yours and I’ll shut up.”

Kakashi was silent a moment. “I really hate you sometimes.”

Shikaku hummed. “On the plus side and I’ll never admit this to anyone...I think you’ve done the kid a lot of good. Some of your crazy kinda balanced the kid out.”

Kakashi tilted his head. “I don’t know whether or not to be proud of that or deeply offended.”

“Knowing you. Proud.” 

Kakashi grinned beneath his mask. “Yeah...I’m pretty damn proud of the kid.”

Shikaku smirked. “Yeah, I know.”

“You know, you’re not all that subtle either.”

Shikaku snorted. “I don’t try to be when it comes to the boys.” Going on to add. “I don’t need to be, we helped raise them. They’re just as much ours as their families.”

Kakashi coughed. “Better in some cases.”

Shikaku chuckled. “Iruka’s family doesn’t count.”

“Yeah.” The man chuckled. “Rai said the kid gets a free pass on that one.”

Shikaku threw his head back and laughed. “Is that what he said?”

“Mmmhmm, Can’t say that I disagree with him.”

“Not many would, still Iruka’s not the only one we’ve had a hand in raising.”

“And look at them now.” Kakashi said wistfully. “All grown up and fighting ninja on their own.”

Shikaku sighed. “That.” He pointed at Kakashi. “That right there is the crazy I was talking about, lord knows that we should be thankful the kid didn’t take after you that much.”

Kakashi snorted. “No matter how many times you all say he’s mine, he isn’t mine.”

“Not biologically, but he’s still yours.”

Kakashi huffed. “The other two are yours.”

Shikaku raised a brow before dryly stating. “I already knew that.” Kakashi grinned even though it was lost on the man opposite of him. That is until Shikaku went onto add. “ I still consider Iruka mine as well.”

“Yeah...I guess I’ll take the other two as well.”

“Don’t sound so put out.” Shikaku chuckled.

The Anbu waved a hand at him. “You can’t say that you have enough energy to deal with Izumo for the amount of time that Kotetsu and Iruka do on a daily basis. The hokage should give them an award for keeping the peace.”

Shikaku mulled it over a moment. “He definitely has more energy than what I’ve seen in the missing nins lately.”

“Which brings to mind just how scary that kid could be when he’s older.”

“You two are not discussing how similar those boys are to missing nins.” Himiko frowned with her hands on her hips.

The two men stared back at her a moment, then they both shrugged. Rolling her eyes Himiko came to stand beside her husbands chair. Leaning against the arm of it as she spoke. “They’re nothing like missing nins.”

“I don’t know about that...” Kakashi muttered. “There are some similarities.”

“Just like there are some similarities between you and the majority of the disturbed ninja we have in the lockdown Ibiki presides over.”

Kakashi was silent even as Shikaku chuckled at his wife’s comeback. “I think I’m going to go check on the boys.”

She smirked back at the ninja. “You do that.” She muttered in amusement. “At the very least try to make sure that they take care of their scrapes. Lord knows the last thing we need is them getting some kind of infection.”

“Yes mom.” Kakashi disappeared before he could be throttled by the woman.

Himiko huffed when the smoke cleared. “Coward.”

“We call that self preservation dear.”

She twisted on the edge of his seat, Shikaku chuckled. “You have to admit, the hasty exit was beneficial for his prolonged lifespan.”

Sighing the woman leaned into him. “So what’s going to happen to our clansmen?”

Shikaku was silent a moment. “Nothing good.”

“That your decision or the hokages?”

“I told him what I thought.”

“Which is?” She pried.

Shikaku shook his head. “Even if it wasn’t our boys that he had been intending to do harm to, I cannot in good faith allow someone from my own clan become a danger to our village. I told the hokage that his little operation has to have caused others their lives, I wasn’t going to stand for more of them being taken just because I might feel some kinship to the man.”

Himiko hummed. “So that’s it then.”

Shikaku gave a nod. “Ibiki’s going to get him to spill his guts.” Shikaku shook his head even as he muttered. “He’ll never see the light of day again, he got himself a life sentence from all he’d done and all he’d been willing to do.” The man gritted his teeth. “All for some illegal booze.”

Himiko grasped his hand into her own. “We’ve done a pretty damn good job with those boys if they didn’t even flinch at the notion of giving their lives for the village Shikaku.”

“Heard that huh?”

She laughed. “Of course I heard it, the kitchen isn’t as sound proofed as you would believe. Besides the fact that they can joke about today shows that they’re going to make great shinobi.”

“They already are.”

“True.” She nodded. “But it means that someday they might take after you, Kakashi and Raidou.”

“Heaven help us if those three decide to become Anbu.”

Himiko laughed at the forlorn tone of her husband's voice.

 

*********

 

Iruka jumped when he turned around to find Wolf standing in his room, glowering at the figure the Chunin muttered. “I hate it when you do that.”

The Anbu tilted his head. “I would think that you would have gotten used to it by now.”

“Not the point.”

The Anbu hummed even as he watched Iruka put away a few items. When Iruka came to a stop as he unloaded his weapons pouch, Kakashi knew the teen had a question. Sure enough not a minute later Iruka was asking.

“Was he really going to kill us?”

“Don’t know.”

Iruka turned his head towards him, trying to find the truth in his statement. Kakashi shook his head. “From what Raccoon gathered, there was the distinct likelihood of him trying to overwhelm you three. He didn’t want to be caught Iruka, if that meant he had to kill a few Chunin in order to evade detection than that was more than likely what he would have done.”

Iruka sighed, his hands coming to rest on either side of his weapons pouch. It lay docile on the top of his dresser.

“What’s wrong?”

Iruka shook his head. Kakashi frowned. “Are you scared?”

Iruka snorted only to wince, his hand coming up to brace his nose.

“Ah...Sorry.” Kakashi apologized.

Iruka shook his head. “Ow...No, not your fault...Damn.” Iruka winced as he held the bridge of his nose gently as he rode out the residual pain.

“I’ll give you a pass.”

“Huh?” Watery eyes turned towards him, smirking beneath his mask Kakashi replied.

“I’m giving you a pass, on cursing just then.”

Iruka blinked at him, blinked again and then muttered. “Wolf.”

“Hmm?”

“Bite me.”

Chuckling the Anbu shook his head. “Fine. If you’re not scared, then what is bothering you?”

Iruka slowly brought his hand away from his nose. “I-I just have a hard time with the whole betraying your village thing.” Iruka swallowed. “I mean technically I-”

Kakashi shook his head, knowing where this was going. “NO!” Iruka jumped in surprise, but Kakashi didn’t stop to apologize for it. “You never betrayed anyone Iruka, you survived. That’s all.”

Iruka sighed. “You know they don’t feel li-”

“I don’t give a damn how they feel about it.”

“Isn’t it the same thing...No listen.” Iruka shook his head. “Technically speaking he belongs to Konoha, but he was still doing things that jeopardize the village all for his own sake.”

“Iruka.” Wolf’s voice held tension, taught like wire.

“Wolf. I know I’m not like him...Not really.” Iruka shrugged. “It’s just that it’s kinda eerily similar ya know?”

“It’s not.”

Iruka sighed. “Fine. Forget it.” Iruka turned to place the restocked weapons pouch away, only to sigh when Wolf’s hand stopped his own.

“Sorry.” The Anbu cleared his throat a bit before continuing. “ I just...I don’t like to hear you talk about yourself like that. You haven’t betrayed anyone.”

“I betrayed them.”

Kakashi snorted. “You were never theirs to begin with.”

Iruka smiled back at the Anbu. “So sure about that huh?”

“Positive. I know for a fact that you’d never betray Konoha.”

Iruka chuckled. “You don’t know that.”

“I know you well enough to know that it would be the last thing you’d do. Like you said, you weren’t afraid.”

Iruka gave his Anbu a perplexed look. “Being afraid to die and betraying your village is a bit different Wolf.”

“Not really. You could have easily let him by, even taken a bribe.” Kakashi shrugged. “Instead you chose to do your job even if it meant possibly dying.”

“Would you betray the village?” Iruka countered.

“No.” Wolf shook his masked head. 

Iruka smirked. “I know.”

Huffing, Kakashi muttered. “Then why did you ask?”

“Because it was fun to see you all flustered.” Iruka laughed when the Anbu glared at him. “And to be fair, I’d like to think that if you could betray the village, it wouldn’t be for alcohol.”

Kakashi laughed. “Glad to know I rank higher than some alcohol peddling.”

“You do.” Iruka nodded, holding up his fingers in a small measurement. “A little.”

“Brat.”

Iruka smiled. “Thanks for fixing my nose.”

“Looks like it hurts.”

“Oh it does.” The Chunin assured him. “Can I get another pass to tell you just how much?”

Kakashi laughed. “No.” The Anbu shook his head. “I’ve got a pretty good imagination, I think I can figure it out for myself.”

“If you’re sure.” Iruka smiled back at his Anbu.

“I’m sure.”

Iruka walked over to his bed, sighing as he sat down on it. Looking back up towards Wolf, the Chunin admitted. “You realize that we’re never going to hear the end of the fu-...That stupid wall.”

“Smooth.”

“Bite me, I tried.”

Laughing Kakashi shook his head. “I figured as much, how’s it look?”

Iruka waved a hand in the air, a so-so movement. “I mean it’s not pretty, but I’ve seen worse.”

“Left your mark on the world did you?” The Anbu teased.

“More like a wall, but sure.” Iruka shot back. 

Walking across the room, Kakashi placed his hand on the top of Iruka’s head. Ruffling the boys hair a bit. “I’m proud of you guys.”

Iruka tilted his head up to smirk at the Anbu. “Just to clarify, saving my teammate gets me mocked for falling into ice. Stopping an alcohol peddler gets me a pat on the back for nearly being murdered...Do I have that right?”

The scowl he got from Wolf had Iruka chuckling. “We already know you’re proud of us, all of you.” Iruka smiled. “Still thanks.”

Kakashi gave a nod, letting his hand fall away from the teen’s head. “So what are your plans for tomorrow?”

Iruka shook his head. “With how this week is going...I’m not getting out of bed.” Kakashi laughed. “You think I’m joking.” Iruka shook his head. “I’m truly considering it.”

“You’re doing fine.”

“I had mild hypothermia and got my nose broken all within two days of each other.”

Kakashi thought that one over. “Alright...But to be fair the hypothermia was far more dangerous than the broken nose. So theoretically you’re going in reverse to the amount of damage you’re receiving.”

Iruka stared back at the Anbu in shock. “Seriously?”

Kakashi shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

Iruka smirked before nodding his head. “Hell why not, maybe tomorrow I’ll make it all day without bleeding or otherwise incurring an injury.”

Kakashi shook his head. “Not likely.”

Iruka frowned back at his Anbu. “But you just sai-”

“Not if you keep cursing that is.”

Iruka huffed. “You suck.”

Kakashi laughed at the annoyed teen’s reply. “If I don’t keep you in check who will?”

“I’m an adult Wolf, I can curse.”

“You can.” Wolf agreed. “You just can’t do it in my presence.”

“Why not?” Iruka chuckled.

“Because you’re not a wave nin, you won’t be cursing like one.”

Iruka smirked as he leaned back on his bed. “Have you ever met a wave nin that cursed like that?”

“Plenty.”

“Is that a lie?”

“Possibly.”

Iruka smirked. “I can’t promise not to curse...But I’ll do my best not to let an alcohol peddler break my nose again.”

Kakashi huffed. “I would think you should be promising not to let him kill you, but sure. Focus on the nose.”

The Chunin laughed. “Fine fine. I promise not to let them kill me either, does that make you happy?”

“Ecstatic.” Came the dry response from Wolf.

“Hey Wolf?”

“Hmm?”

Iruka leaned his head back on his arms which he folded behind his head. Lounging on his bed, he stared up at the ceiling. “Did Raccoon get in trouble for punching him?”

Kakashi chuckled. “No.”

“Cool.”

Kakashi sat down on the teen’s bed, thinking a moment he replied. “Yeah, it kinda is.”

Iruka tilted his head to the side so as to look at the Anbu sitting beside him. “Would you get in trouble if you hit him?”

“When you brought him to us? No.”

“What about now?”

Kakashi chuckled. “Are you sending me on a mission to punch him for you?”

Iruka hummed. “Would you?”

“Are you seriously asking me?”

Iruka tilted his head back to stare up at the ceiling. “I just think he needs it.”

Kakashi laughed. “Why’s that because he broke your nose?’

Iruka shook his head. “No, he has to be pretty damn crazy to betray a place like this.”

Kakashi blinked in surprise, a smirk forming across his lips. “You’re right there kid.” Leaning back against the wall Iruka’s bed was pushed against Kakashi sighed as he relaxed.

“So could you?”

Kakashi smiled, knowing what Iruka was asking. “I could.”

“Will you?”

“Do you think it will teach him a lesson?”

Iruka shook his head. “No, but it might make us happy.”

“True.” Kakashi muttered. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Iruka tilted his head to the side once more, staring up the Anbu sitting beside him. “Wolf...Make sure it’s a good one.”

“Oh? Why’s that?” Kakashi glanced down at the teen staring up at him.

“My nose really hurts.”

Kakashi grinned. “Sure thing kid.”

 


End file.
